In the light of love
by Lady Shandara
Summary: I haven't really been working on this fic for... years? I have some ideas on how this will continue, but for now, nothing new.
1. Returning and leaving

Hark: Thus continues the strange romance between Entreri and Shandara. Other romances may feature in this story too. This first chapter is finished around four o'clock in the morning. The morning paper just came... This is the beginning that I've had in my head for quite some time, I can't promise when I'll continue. Sometimes. Is that vague enough?

Disclaimer: Entreri, Jarlaxle, Drizzt & co. belong to R. A. Salvatore, the world of Faerun to the Wizards of the Coast. Some of the characters are mine, and belong to me. They're my precious... (remember, four o'clock!)

  
  


Chapter 1: Returning and leaving

  
  


The pain wasn't nice. Shandara turned, trying to ignore it, but the pain had decided not to go away. She opened her eyes and stared at the wall, trying to fall asleep. After a couple of minutes this turned out to be impossible to accomplish. She was just about to get up when she heard the door open. She smiled. Perfect timing, as always.

  
  


Artemis Entreri opened the door and stepped into the dark room. There were glowing embers in the fireplace and he could see light shining from the other room. He smiled and closed the door behind him. The rain had soaked his brown coat and he took it off, hanging it on a nail by the door. He had only one small bag, which he had already dropped by the door, and he took of his boots, which were muddy. Then he walked to the fireplace, added some wood and waited for the fire to start properly. Then he walked to the other door and opened it.

"You really had to spend so much time doing.. Whatever you were doing..." Shandara said. "That sounded lame. Would you be a dearie and get me something from the kitchen? I need my pain medicine. There are these red leaves in a glass jar, put three of them into a mug of warm water, you'll have to boil the water first, of course, and then you can bring it here and I may be able to sleep this night. Oh," she added, with a little smile, "it's good that you're back."

"What's wrong?" asked Entreri, who hadn't listened further than the part about pain and medicine. Shandara grinned at his worried expression. "Just menstruation. I'm too tired to get up myself, so please..." she said and laughed. "You can just get the medicine, or I can beg more, or then I can throw a pillow at you. Your choice."

"I'll get the medicine," Entreri said smiling. But before he went, he walked up to the bed and kissed Shandara's cheek. "And it's good to be back."

  
  


Entreri boiled the water, found the red leaves and made the drink, only to discover that when he went back to the bedroom, Shandara had fallen asleep. The put the mug down onto the desk, drew an armchair closer to the bed, as quietly as possible, and then sat down. He fell asleep and woke up to the sound of thunder very near. The rain was banging on the shutters and Shandara was sitting up, reading a book.

"You should come to bed," she said. "You should remember that sleeping in a chair isn't very good for you."

"I didn't want to wake you," Entreri said, getting up and rubbing his neck. "How are you feeling now?"

"Better," Shandara replied. "The medicine tasted terrible since the water had gone cold, but it helped. The weather's really nasty, I wouldn't want to be out there. You're back early, by the way. Weren't you suppose to be gone almost three weeks? It's only been two."

"All kinds of things happened," Entreri sighed, starting to undress. "We were attacked by a band of hobgoblins, which managed to shoot burning arrows into two of the carts. So not so much merchandise to sell, no need to travel to as many villages as we had first thought, and after we began noticing signs that the storm was coming earlier than people had thought it would, everybody decided it would be better to return home. And we still made profit, since those stupid hobgoblins had got greedy and attacked us although they already had lots of gold and jewels."

"How much did you take of the valuables?" Shandara asked, grinning at Entreri's embarrassed smile. "Let me guess. You didn't take anything, since you already have more than they do. They're poor farmers, and you thought they needed the money more than you did? You've become soft."

"Maybe," Entreri said. "But I do have more than they, and I have no need for it."

"I know. And I love you even more because of that. You're a good person."

"I always wasn't," Entreri said, the dark memories returning once again. In truth they never actually went away, but when he was with Shandara, they didn't hunt him as much.

"But you are now," Shandara said, putting the book down. "Could you come to bed now? I can't go to sleep if you're hopping around."

"What?" Entreri asked laughing, crawling under his blanket on his side of the bed. "I do not hop."

"Maybe not," Shandara said, kissing him softly. "That'll do for now. You'll get a better welcome home when I'm not bleeding and feeling like hell, ok?" She smiled and curled closer to him. Entreri touched her hair gently and then blew out the candle, letting the darkness of the night surround them both.

  
  


The next morning Shandara woke up to find the space next to her empty. If she got up from the bed, Entreri always woke up, but he could leave, possibly even stomping around loudly and still she would usually just continue to sleep. She got up and went to look for her clothes and then to wash up. In Athkatla it had been easier to go and wash yourself during menstruation, here there was only the small old sauna building that the previous owner had built, and it was terribly cold in there if you didn't want to go to sauna but simply to wash yourself. She put on her dressing gown, gathered a pile of clothes and stepped out of the bedroom. Entreri, who had been reading a book on a sofa by the fireplace looked up to her.

"Would you like something to eat?" he asked and Shandara smiled. He had missed their breakfasts together. 

"I'll go and wash myself first," she said. "Then I can eat something and you can tell me all about your wonderful journey. No sarcasm intended," she added, putting on her shoes and stepping outside, where it was pretty cold. At least it wasn't raining at the moment. The sauna had been built a little way from the cottage, and if it was raining, getting warm in the sauna wasn't any good since you got soaked by cold rain on your way back. 

  
  


Entreri had put down the book, which was one of the books Shandara had took with her from Athkatla, a collection of stories about chivalry. She had said that it had been one of her first books, and although the stories were pretty stupid and romantic, she enjoyed reading them every once in a while. Entreri had started to read it since it had been on the table and he'd had nothing better to do. 

They had been living here, on the outskirts of Beregost, for almost a year, which seemed such a long time but felt very short. They had wandered around for a while, not sure where to settle, but then different circumstances had let them to this little town and to this little cabin, which had been owned by a young couple. They had died in a bandit attack, and the man's mother had been more than happy to see another couple living in the cottage her son had built. Shandara had instantly liked the old lady and also the cottage, and so they had stayed.

He had wondered what he could do, but many opportunities had presented themselves very soon. There were some bandits, or there had been some bandits, until Entreri had helped the townspeople to organize themselves and track the bandits down. There was help needed in some farms, or like his previous job, guarding the farmers and craftsmen travelling to sell their products to the nearby villages. He had done these jobs, at first loathing them because they were so simple, so low, then learning to respect the way people lived and worked here. But if he was honest to himself, he admitted that he didn't want to do this for the rest of his life. He wanted something different, although the problem was that he wasn't sure what it was.

Shandara, it seemed, felt more at home. She had started to teach the children to read and write and also helped around. They had become quite popular, Entreri pondered, grinning at the thought. She had asked him to teach her some self-defence, and had got pretty good with a long dagger. Entreri didn't carry Charon's Claw with him, the sword would have raised too many questions he didn't wish to answer, but he always had his jewelled dagger. He had wanted Shandara to take it, but she had preferred a normal dagger. In truth, Entreri hoped that she would never have to protect herself. He hoped he would be there to protect her. These kinds of thoughts, which came into his mind usually during cold nights when he was away from her, from home, and they worried him in a way he couldn't quite understand. 

He loved her, that was certain. But during the last year this feeling had changed. Before it had been mostly passion, having her in his arms, touching her, kissing her... Now the passion had... not faded, but given way to something else. He was happy to fall asleep next to her, to talk to her, maybe not even touch her the whole day, just to be near her. But he knew that although he had all these feelings for her, he still didn't have enough feelings to share to others. The men in Beregost had tried to befriend him, but although he tried, he couldn't feel much about them. He wouldn't be very sad if he heard about their demise... Shandara would be, or at least she would be sorry for the families. But Entreri...

He had been in the darkness for so long and then Drizzt Do'Urden, Jarlaxle and Shandara had all pulled him out of it. Now Drizzt was dead, Jarlaxle was somewhere, probably having fun and confusing people, and Shandara was here. Sometimes, usually in those dark nights, he would wonder what would happen if she wasn't there for him. If she suddenly disappeared. Would he fall back into that darkness, or would he be able to continue. He wasn't sure. He was afraid to find out. He didn't want to find out. He wanted to be with her, not to think of the possibility that one day she wouldn't be there for him.

"What are you thinking about?" Shandara asked and Entreri stared at her, startled. He had heard her come in, he was sure of it, but he hadn't reacted to it at all. That was inexcusable. A warrior didn't survive long like that.

"Are you alright?" Shandara asked, looking at him closely. "Did I scare you?"

"Almost," Entreri said, sighing. "It's just that... I've been thinking about us, and living here and..."

"You don't like it here," Shandara said, sitting down next to him on the sofa and leaning her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and tried to think of a way to explain his feelings.

"I like it here, but... I don't think I can live the rest of my life like this. I want to live the rest of my life with you, but..."

"Not here," Shandara said, moving away and looking at him. "Well, I was going to suggest this anyway... I got a letter from Isaldora. She's very upset that I didn't go to see her after the child was born and she asked me when I was going to come and visit. Would this be a perfect time for a trip to Athkatla? I would like to see little Zak."

"Zak?" Entreri asked. Shandara nodded: "She named the baby Zak. Didn't I tell you? Or actually his name is Zaknafein. Jarlaxle suggested that, although he hadn't explained why. Isaldora usually calls him Zak. Apparently," Shandara added grinning, "he is the smartest four month old baby anyone has ever seen. So? Should we go see the wonder boy and his mother? Take a little time to think about what to do next? Where to live next?"

"How long have you been planning this?" Entreri asked. 

"You know me too well," Shandara sighed. "About three weeks. I was thinking about asking you before you left, but then I thought that you should fulfill your duty to the people and decide to leave them only after that."

"Fulfill my duty?" Entreri asked from grinning Shandara. "We should go. You can try to get some other books that those chivalric ones."

"I only own one chivalric book, thank you very much," Shandara said, "and you were reading it too."

"So when would you want to leave?" Entreri asked. She smiled. "As soon as possible. It'll be nice to get to a big city. To walk around on paved streets. To get a nice warm bath in a nice warm room..."

"Then we'll leave as soon as possible," Entreri said, happy of the chance to clear his thoughts somewhere else, hoping that they would find a better place during their travels. Who knows where they might end up...


	2. Journeys

Hark: I've modified this chapter a bit. I'm not sure whether it's better or worse now. I haven't had much time for writing, so no new chapters yet. Maybe more will come when summer (or even proper spring) reaches Finland and all my exams are over. I really need to concentrate on studying now.

Chapter 2: Journeys

The slaves were driven to the road before the sun had risen. They were chained, but as Jeron observed, the chains were unnecessary. What could the slaves have done to them? They were armed and only they knew the way through the desert. They couldn't travel on the normal caravan routes, so they had found their own way, which was unknown to anyone else. If the slaves managed to get free and kill them, they would most likely die in the desert, never finding their way out.

Jeron had sometimes found himself thinking why he did this, but usually he dismissed those kinds of thoughts as useless. He did this because he was good at it and he had been making profit ever since his first year as a slave trader's assistant. Now he was running a successful business himself, and found it strange when some woman he had bought for a night asked him how he could sell people. The woman was selling herself, wasn't she, and what really was the difference between selling one's own body or selling someone else's body. He hadn't liked the woman and had made a mental note not to buy her services again. He hadn't been very upset when he'd find out that she had been killed by another disgruntled customer. Probably he hadn't been any more interested in what she had to say that Jeron had been.

The sun was rising and Jeron looked at the trail of slaves. This was a good group, he was certain he would manage to sell them all. There were eight children, more than usually, and he knew already that they would fetch a good price for all of them. He knew the right kind of customers, who preferred the young over adults. Of course there were a couple of older children, who would be more difficult to sell, but Jeron knew his skills and was confident that he could sell those children, if they survived the desert.

Entreri was lying awake in the bed, not wanting to get up yet. He knew he would have to get up soon, if they were going to leave with the group of merchants, but they still had time, and he wanted to make the most of it.

Shandara was asleep with her back turned to him. Her brown hair was tied with a red ribbon, she had said that she had woken up too many times when Entreri had pulled her hair in his sleep, and she in turn had woken him. A few locks had escaped and Entreri touched them gently, wondering once again what it was about her that made him feel this way. Why did he feel so happy just to watch her sleep? He couldn't understand it, but with her he had started to see things differently. Like helping the villagers... Before he would have done that only if it served some greater purpose, like finding someone he hunted.

He couldn't help his thoughts moving to a direction they had gone to too many times recently. Regis. Catti-brie. Drizzt Do'Urden. His greatest opponent, his greatest victory. His greatest loss. He wouldn't have beaten Drizzt in a fair fight, he would have died. That would have been the end of it all, and sometimes he thought that maybe that would've been better.

"Don't ever again think like that," Shandara had said when he had talked to her about these thoughts - the first time he had ever confided to anyone about his feelings. "You would have died and I would have never met you. You would have never met me," she had added and kissed his cheek. "Think how sad it would've been for you."

"I wouldn't have known," he had pointed out to her. "I would've been dead." She had grinned and told him not to spoil everything with being too realistic. Then they had stopped talking and...

Entreri decided not to follow that particular memory any further. It wasn't the right time for it. The sun would rise soon, he would have to wake her up and they would have to leave.

"I hate it when you do that," Shandaa muttered. "Lay awake and stare at me," she continued, turning to look at him, although her eyes appeared to be more closed than open. She blinked and then turned the blinking into a wink. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing much," Entreri replied, unsure whether he could find the right words for the feelings he had.

"Well, then we should get up," Shandara said and smiled. "You can tell me when you come up with the right words, alright?"

Diana tried to keep up with the rest, but she was short for her age - she was pretty certain she was already twelve - and her short legs couldn't keep up with the rest of the slaves. There was a boy of his age, but he was in the group with the men, and the rest of the children were younger than her and had been put into the wagon. She had learned that children were precious, so the slavers took better care of them. But she was already older, and not as pretty as the younger girls, so Jeron wasn't that worried about her. And so she had been ordered to walk.

"Try not to fall over, dearie," a woman walking in front of her said. "If you fall, it's hard to get up, and then you fall again, and... How old are you?"

"Why?" Diana asked, realizing for the first time that her mouth was dry, her voice was no stronger than a whisper.

"I had a little girl," the woman said, turning to look in front of her again. "She would be ten now. Maybe she is ten now, for all I know. They took her away. Sold her."

"Who are we going to be sold to?" Diana asked, staring at her feet. The woman hadn't either heard her question or had fallen back to her thoughts, and Diana concentrated again to counting her steps. She had got as far as over two hundred the last time, before she had faltered, and she could do better now. All she had to do was to concentrate. Concentrating on footsteps was so much better than concentrating on the future and what would happen after the footsteps had taken her, taken all of them, to their destination.

"A nice day," Shandara said, mounting a brown mare called Merri that they had bought two weeks before. She liked the horse, it was calm enough for her limited riding skills. Entreri's horse was a grey mare, Pippin, which to Shandara's mild annoyance looked much.. she searched for a word in her limited horse-related vocabulary and settled for 'better'. More horse-like, perhaps. More like she had thought that a horse should look like, while her own horse looked like it was closer to being a pony. Pony, horse... It really didn't matter to her, as long as the horse she was riding didn't attempt to throw her of its back.

"Is it?" Entreri asked and Shandara grinned. "I'm not sure, but it's just something you should say when you're embarking on a journey. At least in some of the books I've read," she added.

"I'll take your word for it," Entreri said, looking around. It actually was quite a nice day, although a couple of clouds in the horizon suggested that rain might become an issue at some point. But now the day was nice and Shandara was wearing a bright green cloak that made her eyes seem greener than normally. She had pulled her hair back with a black ribbon and looked happier than in a long time.

"You're sure you want to leave?" Entreri asked, although he already knew the answer. 

"Well, I've packed my things, and there's this horse, and I really have nothing better to do right now, so..." Shandara said and then grinned. "Take a guess."

"I'm guessing that means 'yes'," Entreri said. "Let's go then. The merchants will be waiting for us outside the town."

In Calimport Dwahvel Tiggerwillies was listening to a report from one of her scouts with growing amount of worry. 

"So they just gathered a lot of information about Entreri?" she confirmed. "But why?"

"I don't know," Juuso, the scout, answered. "I've asked everywhere, but they have no connection to him, they have no reason to hate him and if they have read all the information, they must know by now that Entreri won't probably return to work here. And still... They are using vast amounts of money to find him."

"Find out more," Dwahvel said after some consideration. "If there's any link, no matter how insignificant, you must find it out. And make sure I get all the reports they do."

"I'm on it," Juuso said and left the room. Dwahvel took one of the papers on the table and read the text. Why this interest to Artemis Entreri? She felt that she needed to find it out, that she owed that much to her friend. And, she had to admit to herself, she was quite curious about Entreri's current companion. Entreri had teamed up with people before, she knew this, usually in order to achieve something he wanted, and left those companions soon after achieving his goal. Sometimes he left his companions dead. To Dwahvel he had seemed like a natural loner. But this woman was not a fighter, was not a mage, practically she was no one. And still... Dwahvel was curious. A woman who could charm someone like Entreri must be something special. And she would soon learn what. Unfortunately, so would those who were wasting no efforts in finding Entreri and his companion.

Dwahvel hoped the man had found some time to talk with her when he had visited Calimport, but he had been in a hurry to return to Athkatla. Return to this woman? Dwahvel tried to remember whether Entreri had mentioned her name. He hadn't said anything about her. That was typical of Entreri, keeping quiet about his business. But this seemed to fall more under the heading of pleasure, Dwahvel thought and smiled. She liked Entreri, and had been quite surprised when she had realized that they had become friends. The man was not the heartless murderer everybody said he was, and this... development, it could be called, proved that. But she had been unsure of how much the man could actually change, and she had been quite annoyed to realize she might never find that out, since it was unlikely for Entreri to return to Calimport. But he had visited there already once, and with things being as they were, Dwahvel had the feeling they would meet yet again. She knew that it was bad for business to get too involved into personal matters, but Entreri could be one of those few exceptions that had to be made.

Dwahvel leafed through the papers until something caught her eye. Well, here was something to ease her curiosity. A name and a place. She send for some other reports and finally found it. An unusual connection. She called in one of their mages and asked her to contact Aran Linvail of the Shadow Thieves at once. 


	3. A long lost son

Hark: This chapter is really short and very strange. I'm sorry I haven't submitted anything for a long time, but I've been terribly busy and when not busy, lazy. Inspiration has left the building, but I'm very close to finding it again. Read and review, as usual, and I'll try to continue soon, although I'm not making any promises at this time.

Chapter 3: A long lost son

The sun was shining from cloudless sky over Memnon. The streets were full of people going about their businesses, the dealers of legal goods openly, and the other kind not so openly. Memnon was on its way to evolving into a place where a person looking for something could easily find it, no matter how illegal it was. Compared to Calimport, Memnon was small, but it was now a common belief that the streets of Memnon was the place where people trained before moving to the streets of Calimport and collecting a fortune, usually from someone else.

Elanna Entreri walked through the streets, without the need to avoid the beggars and pickpockets, who had already learned to know her and were aware that she didn't have much to beg for or to steal. She was carrying a basket that held the few things she had been able to buy from a merchant who knew her and usually gave her a discount with a sad smile on his face. Once a week she went to the temple where they gave the poor some food, but there were always more people than there was food, and many had to leave empty-handed. Once or twice she had resorted to begging, when she hadn't had enough money and she had known that if Galen returned and she didn't have the dinner ready, he would have been angry.

Sometimes she thought it would be best if he just killed her. Once or twice she had thought about ruining the dinner, dropping the plate on his lap, doing something that would make him so mad he would kill her, release her from this world. Sometimes she thought about killing him, when he was sleeping, taking a knife and slicing his throat. But she was a coward. Too afraid to do anything but to walk through her life hating every moment of it, but unable to do anything else.

She reached the house, she was unable to use the word 'home' anymore, and as soon as she got in she sat down. Her leg was aching again, it had been ever since she had fallen down the stairs. Falling down the stairs was a very common accident for women living in her neighbourhood, and therefor it might come as a surprise to people that all the buildings in the area were one storey high with no stairs in single one of them. But then again, people had more important things to worry about than clumsy women, who surely deserved to fall down the stairs. Otherwise they wouldn't have fallen, now would they?

Galen hardly ever spent the nights in the house anymore. She was relieved, although she couldn't imagine there was anything he hadn't already done to her. The thought was painful, and brought back painful memories. After Artemis has escaped, she had found out that she was pregnant again. She had already had two miscarriages after Artemis' birth, but that time the baby had survived, a beautiful girl. Little baby Cecilyn had died three weeks before her first birthday, and Elanna still didn't know how or why. Then eight years later, after three more miscarriages, Meroan had been born. Elanna had stared at the baby boy who looked so much like Artemis when he had been born. Galen's eyes. She had loved the baby but hated those eyes. When Meroan was three, Galen had given him to his brother who was moving to Baldur's Gate, to be brought up properly, as he had said. Elanna hadn't said anything, but she had cried, because that was what Galen expected. But during the nights spent awake she had not cried, because true pain of loss, the kind she was feeling, was too great for mere tears. This had happened twenty years ago, but she could still remember what the boy's hair smelled like, just like he could remember every little thing about Artemis. Then there had been no new losses for her, because after her next miscarriage she had not been able to have any more children. That had been a true blessing.

She probably had two children somewhere in the world, two sons. She had heard the name Artemis Entreri mentioned once or twice when she had passed merchants and travellers in the streets, but she hadn't dared to ask them who they were talking about. Entreri could be a common name in the vast world outside Memnon, and she knew that Artemis was a popular name for boys. She had heard nothing of Galen's brother in Baldur's Gate and of Meroan, and if Galen had received some news, he had not told her. And she was afraid of learning the truth anyway, afraid of knowing how things really were. She was used to lies, she could handle the lies and deception, they were an everyday part of her life. The truth might have been too painful after all the lies, and at least now she could hope that her children were safe and happy.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she looked up as the door opened and a man stepped in. He was dressed in expensive clothes that looked completely out of place in the small room. He noticed her, stepped closer, removed his hat and made a little bow. Elanna couldn't move, only stare at a face that looked exactly like the one that had charmed her forty years ago.

"Good day to you, mother," Meroan said calmly and looked around the room. "Interesting. I remember nothing of this place. Thank gods for that. What a dump! Now, aren't you going to welcome me like a mother should welcome a long lost son? I believe we have much to talk about after all this time."


	4. Homes and families

Hark: When did I last update? I have no idea. I just haven't been able to write anything for a long time. I'm so busy studying right now that the next chapter will probably be written during Christmas or something... Of course, I usually get most of my inspirations when I should be studying for exams and there are plenty of those coming, so we'll see.

**Chapter 4: Homes and families**

**Shandara leaned on the railing** and stared at the waves, with a little smile creeping to her lips. She didn't usually like being at sea, but the weather was fine and she was feeling wonderful. Living in Beregost hadn't suited her, she could see it now. The little town had been too small for her and although she had tried to fit in and had made friends, all the time there had been the feeling of being out of place. Now she was returning to the only place she had ever considered her home. She was happy, but the situation wasn't perfect. She was returning home, Entreri wasn't. She had hoped they could find a home together, but Beregost hadn't been that home. She had the feeling that Athkatla wouldn't be the right place for them either. For her, perhaps, but she couldn't see them living there together. Another place was needed. Would they ever find a place they both liked? She wasn't sure.

"I hate it when your smile disappears like that." Shandara, on the other hand, both loved and hated Entreri's way of walking up to her quietly. It meant that he was there in times she wanted him to be there for her, but also in times when she would have preferred to be alone. "Is something wrong?"

"It's just that..." she wondered for a moment whether she should talk about her worries at all, and then realized that it was Entreri asking her the question. With anyone else she might have turned the conversation to other matters, but with him it was useless. "I was thinking about Beregost. And Athkatla. And also about home. I want one. With you. But I'm not sure whether we'll ever find one that we both love. Beregost clearly wasn't that place."

"I thought you liked it there," Entreri said. "But not enough?"

"Not enough. It was fine, but not wonderful, not a place I would truly miss."

"I've never had such a place," Entreri muttered and Shandara saw the sadness flash through his otherwise cold, grey eyes. She couldn't stop loving the way his storm cloud eyes filled with emotion every now and then, the moments when she could see the man behind the armour he had constructed to protect himself. She was allowed to see him for who he really was.

"We'll find that kind of place some day," she said, although she didn't quite believe her own words. "A home, a true home. I mean, how hard can it really be? Most people are happy right where they live."

"They are ordinary people," Entreri pointed out, smiling a little. "We're not."

"You're right," Shandara said, grinning and kissing his cheek. "We're special. We're wonderful. And we're going to arrive to Athkatla soon," she continued, pointing at the coastline the ship had been following for a day. "We can stop worrying about finding a home for a while and start worrying about being asked to babysit."

"Babysit?" She could swear she heard horror in Entreri's voice.

"Yes, babysit," she said, grinning evilly. "A young mother who needs some time off from her baby, who is she going to turn to? Her best friends, of course. That means me, and if I have to babysit someone, I'm sure as hell not going to do it alone."

"You would make me babysit?" Entreri asked in a voice that was now more amused than horrified.

"You would be the assistant babysitter," Shandara said. "Your job would be trying to keep me sane. I don't think I'm very good with babies. Older children yes, they can be reasoned with. Babies just keep crying all the time."

"I don't think it's that bad," Entreri laughed.

"Just wait and see," Shandara said, trying to make her voice sound menacing but failing. "Crying all the time, trust me."

**"He won't stop crying!"** Mitsu moaned as soon as Isaldora rushed into the apartment. The elf had heard the crying all the way to the street and had ran up the stairs, all kinds of fears going through her mind. Now she could see no danger, only a very tired looking halfling and little Zaknafein, who was in his bed, crying loudly.

"I tried everything," Mitsu almost wept when Isaldora walked past her and lifted the baby from the bed. "That doesn't help, I tried..." The crying stopped almost as soon as the baby was resting against Isaldora's shoulder.

"You were saying?" the elf asked smiling. "Did you miss your mum?" she asked Zak in that tone all people seem to use when talking to babies, and Mitsu rolled her eyes. Motherhood was to her a disease that she never wanted to catch. And babysitting seemed like a cruel and unusual punishment that the mother of the baby didn't see as a punishment when asking her innocent friends for a small favour. Small? What a joke.

"I'm going to go to sleep now," Mitsu sighed. "Are you aware that Aran will be so angry with you when I fall asleep during an important job because that little... angel," she tried to smile, "has been keeping me awake."

"Aran will understand," Isaldora said in the tone of a mother who has heard nothing what the other person has said because she has been concentrating only on her child. Mitsu shook her head. That would never happen to her.

"I'll go now," she said, while Isaldora put Zak back to his bed. "Next time, find someone else to babysit. He doesn't like me."

"Of course he does," Isaldora said. "You're his aunty Mitsu, of course he likes you. Your family."

"Aunty Mitsu needs to rest now," Mitsu said, but Isaldora's words made her happy. They formed a strange family, Isaldora, little Zak, Aran, Erik... "And aunty Shandara will be here soon as well," Mitsu said. "Or is 'Shandara' too difficult? Maybe she'll become 'aunty Shandy'? That sounds nice."

"That sounds bad," Isaldora grinned. "She'd kill me. Or maybe you, if I said it was your idea."

"I don't want to be killed, I just want to sleep," Mitsu said, heading for the door. "Contact me when the little menace has slept enough and wants to cry some more. I'm almost used to it by now."

"I will," Isaldora said. When Mitsu had left she sat down next to Zak's bed, looking at the sleeping child. How could he fall asleep so quickly? He didn't have any of the problems that kept other people awake at nights, not yet. Isaldora knew that most mothers seemed to believe their children stayed small forever, but she had to think ahead. Her child wasn't a normal one. His skin was as black as his father's, his eyes were pale violet. Isaldora touched his short hair that was the most astonishing thing about him. It was golden, the only thing that differed Zak from ordinary drow. All these features that Isaldora had loved from the moment she saw her child were also the features that would make life harder for him. Being a dark elf meant that he would have to become all kinds of obstacles, but having features that linked him to surface elves would bring more questions, like 'was your mother raped by a dark elf?', and worse. Zaknafein would have hard time finding his place in the world, but Isaldora would be there, helping him in the battles to come.

**Aran Linvail couldn't understand** why all the bad news had to come at the same time. Couldn't there be some system that made sure every person got their fair share of good news and bad news? He seemed to get only the bad ones. The one good thing he had heard was that Shandara was coming, but then he had been contacted by Dwahvel Tiggerwillies. The halfling was the one Entreri knew and had contacted when they had gone to Calimport to kill Reanan. Now it seemed that Entreri's past was catching up on him and this meant that Shandara was also in danger.

After Dwahvel had informed him of the inquiries about Entreri and his companions, Aran had begun his own investigations. The Shadow Thieves were better connected that Dwahvel was, and he had found out things he first hadn't believed. There was a brother. A younger version of Artemis Entreri, or at least so it seemed. This information hadn't been cheap, or easy to come by. But in the end, he had received information, partly consisting of rumours, but still plausible enough to be true; Artemis Entreri truly had a brother who had been raised by his uncle in Baldur's Gate. The uncle's business wasn't as respectable as it seemed. On the outside he was an ordinary merchant, but on the inside a slave trader, among other things. Aran despised slave traders. Slavery was one thing he would never support, never accept. People were not things to be sold, although when he thought about this, a little voice pointed out that he was selling women for men to use. Really it was more like renting, since the men only had the women for a short while, but he found it harder to believe this reasoning these days. Everything seemed so pointless and out of his control.

Now the uncle had made inquiries about Entreri and the brother had left the city, and of course his current whereabouts were unknown. And they now knew that Aran knew. One of the agents of the Shadow Thieves had returned to Athkatla in small pieces, brought by his terrified companion, who had been tortured close to death. Aran was having hard time trying to handle the situation. He couldn't interfere, not outside his area, without making many more enemies from all the guilds that would feel threatened. His guild wasn't ready for a fight, not when things had just started to work in Athkatla again. He could give this information to Entreri and assign some more of his men to help him, but that was all.

One thing he would have to do was to convince Shandara to stay in the guild until Entreri knew for sure why his family had taken interest in him. Otherwise she might be in great danger. And on top of things Aran had the feeling Entreri didn't even know he had a brother, and he was trying to find a suitable way to tell him. He was considering the coward's way out; telling Shandara and asking her to tell Entreri. She could do it, for some reason she had been able to get through to him, to win his trust. It was easy to understand why this had happened. What kind of man could have resisted her?

Aran sighed. You truly didn't understand what you had until you lost it. She had found her happiness with someone else and now all he could do was to protect her from Entreri's problems and the dangers that seemed to find the man no matter where he went or what he did. Aran remembered the look on the face of the agent who had come back alive and the stench of rotten flesh that had lingered over the body parts he had brought with him. This was dangerous territory, and although Aran knew who were looking for Entreri, he didn't know why. That unanswered 'why' was the most dangerous thing, and he hoped that Entreri would have some knowledge, although he doubted this. Only questions and no answers, the certain road to death.


End file.
